Estranged Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward says he never stops listening back to his recorded work – and wishes he could improve certain aspects. The most famous example, he says, is Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, from 1970 album Paranoid.
Ward, who released his solo album Accountable Beasts in April, says he still frets over the final product whenever he hits the studio.
Ward tells LA Radio Sessions, “I like to be really sure that we’ve got everything. Did we do it right? Have we got everything? Does it sound okay? Once I feel like I’ve reached that place, I don’t have any problem with letting it go.
However, it is true to say that I still am listening to mixes. Probably the most famous one is the bass-drum sound on Iron Man. I’m still not happy with the f–king bass-drum sound. But, I let it go. I have let it go. But it’s, like, that bass-drum sound, I wanted it to be so much bigger and better.”
additional source: classicrock.teamrock.com
One Response
That bass drum sound is a little dead sounding but that song is so iconic the way it is, I can’t imagine it sounding any other way. It’s not just the bass drum sound on “Iron Man”, it’s on the entire album, which includes Bill’s solo on “Rat Salad” and that’s a great performance. That song is Sabbath’s “Moby Dick”.